Fanfic and a book I hate

The Friday Syllabus

I had a bunch of random articles I was thinking about including today, but I couldn’t formulate a cohesive thought or bring myself to feel inspired by any of them. BUT THEN

Rose Dommu

posted this substack.

Wait, Hermione [Redacted] Herself?

This might be extremely niche (or maybe not, since even I, a very basic bitch millennial mom, have heard about this), but I have been contemplating for months whether or not I should read Manacled. If you have not heard of Manacled, that’s probably for the best, but to summarize, it’s essentially a Harry Potter fanfic with a Handmaid’s Tale-esque plot that takes place in a Harry Potter alternate universe, where HP is dead, Voldemort’s in charge, and Hermione has been assigned to Draco as, essentially, his handmaid. It clocks in at just over 370,000 words and it has more than just a cult following on tik tok.

Pinterest is brimming with Manacled content

It has recently been pulled from the internet as the author, senlinyu, has signed a deal to turn the fanfic into a stand alone novel. However, before this happened I downloaded this behemoth onto my Kindle where it has sat, unopened, untouched. I just can’t decide if I should read it or not! And actually, after reading the above conversation between Fanfic experts Rose Dommu and Ashley Reese, I think I’ve decided I’m not going to read it. First of all, I don’t think I have time (even thought I did just finish A Secret History by Donna Tartt which is not exactly short but still not even half as long as Manacled). But second of all, and more importantly, I just don’t think I want to read something so goddam depressing.

I don’t know if these books are actually similar at all but something about the conversation around Manacled reminds of the book that I hate the most in the world, the worst well-written book out there: A Little Life. I HATE A Little Life. I have made it my life’s mission to make sure everyone knows I hate this book and to deter as many people from reading it as I possibly can.

A Little Life is also around 370,000 words (too long. no book needs to be this long). And it has been (correctly) referred to as trauma porn. A Little Life is also really polarizing. Some people think it’s the best book ever (these people are wrong). And other people (good, normal, law-abiding people) think it is terrible. If you enjoy someone making up the most gruesome, disturbing, depressing, and over the top trauma stories and then hammering you over the head with them, then read A Little Life, and I guess Manacled too (though at least Manacled has magic in it!).

So no, I don’t think I’m going to read Manacled, though I will continue to consume content about it because I think it’s really interesting! If you’re trying to hunt down a copy of Manacled, let me know because I have an unopened PDF looking for a home.

That’s basically it from me this week! My baby turns 1 year old next week (sobs) so I think I might post my birth story on here if I’m feeling vulnerable enough (it’s a doozy).